Northrup wins Fond du Lac Reservation special election

Mary Sue Northrup will be the new district representative for District 3-Brookston on the Fond du Lac Tribal Council. Northrup defeated opponent Anna Waite by a vote of 93 to 81 in a special election held on Tuesday. Total voter turnout for the election was 174.

The results of the regular election for the post held earlier this year were successfully challenged and a revote was scheduled for Aug. 12.

According to tribal election laws, Northrup will officially take office 10 days following Tuesday’s election. Her swearing-in ceremony is slated to take place during the open meeting at the Brookston Community Center on Thursday, Aug. 21.

Prior to her election Northrup, who lives in Brookston with her husband, Tony, already had a firm foothold established within local tribal operations. Most recently, she’s served as the tribal veteran’s officer for the past two years – the first tribal veteran’s officer in the state of Minnesota. Prior to taking on that role, she worked in the administrative department at Fond du Lac Ojibwe School for five years and worked as a social worker on the reservation.

Northrup and her husband have one adult son, Clint, and he and his finace Julia have one child, Antonio, 1 1/2 months.

“It’s been a whirlwind day,” commented Northrup on Wednesday following the election. “When they started fitting me for my chair [in the tribal chambers], it really hit home!”

This will be the first time Northrup has held an elected office on the reservation.

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